Review: Bach Violin and Voice

Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon
Year: 2010
Artists: Hilary Hahn, Matthias Goerne, Christine Schäfer, Münchener Kammerorchester & Alexander Liebreich

First, the good news: Hilary Hahn is featured in this collection of Bach cantatas and choral works. For the most part, her playing is as composed, clear and thoughtful as always; her violin sings, laughs and sparkles.

Now, the bad news. Although one might expect otherwise from a record whose title implies balance between instrument and voice, these recordings are weighed down by the two vocalists. The nature of baroque music is contrapuntal and bright; Mr. Goerne’s fruity vibrato overpowers all distinctions, and lack of expression lends a leaden quality to his pieces. What may be lovely in the concert hall translates into loud mush. Ms. Schäfer, on the other hand, prefers to skip half of her notes and manages to miss the rest, rather like a hurdler who decides that it is quicker to barrel down the course than to attempt those athletic jumps. Furthermore, both vocalists lack the pleasing subtlety and cooperation that Bach demands of his performers. Perhaps it is not entirely their fault; these two vocalists seem to have preferred Romantic leider to Lutheran liturgy in their past work, and these have different vocal techniques and requirements.

Other little indignities are present in this package. The cover art is atrocious. Who picked that font? Why is it purple? Why is a disembodied bust of old Bach hovering, god-like, in the corner? Why do the artists look photoshopped onto the generic white of an indeterminate church hall? Why do they look like they are guilty of a great secret? Why is the violinist separated from the vocalists? Why is everyone in black? Why are there no artist biographies? And if they are so famous, why are there no promotional covers for the other two artists?

One of your esteemed reviewers believes that this CD is palatable in the right historical context. The other reviewer finds this a difficult recording to digest.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 14:54:33 and is filed under Compact Discs, Opinion, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.